Fanaticism

I want to create a legacy. Something that my children can look back on and remember always that Dad would do this, and that they could look forward to it. It may seem initially like a pretty insignificant decision, but for a guy like me, it's huge.

I think I'll join the Cougar Club. (And this means season tickets. Every year.)

My first love has always been college (translated: BYU) football. We went through some rocky times, the Cougars and me, but now that I've seen the light and come back, I think about it a lot. Someone probably once said something about how what you think about when you don't have anything to think about says a lot about you, and your priorities.

I think about LaVell Edwards Stadium, and singing Rise and Shout, and a bunch of kids who are ten years younger than me chasing each other around on grass in the fall.

I knew that I had come back to the Cougars, but I didn't understand the extent of it until last year's season opener. You know, the one that was played in the new Cowboy Stadium, that one game that changed Sam Bradford's legacy at Oklahoma, that game when BYU shocked the Sooners and the beast that is division one college football. You know that game? Remember it? I do. More than anything I remember the way I wandered around in a zombie-like state repeating over and over, "I can't believe this. I can't believe this."

We drove to Twin Falls, Idaho that night to visit my wife's grandparents. I had no trouble staying awake for the drive. I didn't want to go to sleep that night. I didn't want that day to end. I wanted to talk about the game, I wanted to relive the game. That's why I bought the 2009 Cougar Football DVD (did you know they made one? Well they did, and I bought it. That's right, I did.), so I could relive that game. And while I was at it, I might as well relive the other games from the season too.

Even the two that were broadcast on stupid Versus. Now that I've brought those two games up, let us never speak of them again.

Is it healthy to put this much emotional stock in college football?

Yes it is. It keeps me going.

Bring on this blog, a blog from a fan's perspective. I'm not an insider. I'm simply a fanatic.